Worker Quits, Blasts Microsoft Over Gaza

A Microsoft employee in Italy publicly resigned on his final day at the company, sending an email to thousands of colleagues across Europe accusing the technology giant of enabling Israel's military operations in Gaza through its cloud infrastructure.

The employee, identified only as Nour, worked as a Critical Environment Technician at a Microsoft data center in Italy. His resignation email, later published by employee activist group No Azure for Apartheid (NOAA), said he chose to leave after nearly two years because he no longer wanted to work for a company he believes is supporting Israel's war effort.

"After nearly two years as a Critical Environment Technician at a Microsoft Italy data center, I choose to resign," Nour wrote.

In the email, Nour accused Microsoft of expanding European data centers that he described as supporting surveillance and military technologies used during the Gaza conflict. He also alleged the company had become a key technology provider for Israel's military operations.

Allegations reference earlier investigation

According to the investigation, around 11,500 terabytes of intercepted phone recordings - equivalent to roughly 200 million hours of audio - were stored primarily in Microsoft's Netherlands data center, with additional data hosted in Ireland. Sources cited by the publications said the information supported intelligence analysis and military planning.

Nour went further, alleging the data was used by AI-powered targeting systems and claiming Israeli military use of Microsoft's AI services increased 64-fold during the first six months of the war.

Those allegations have not been independently verified, and they were not conclusions reached by the original investigation.

Microsoft's position

Microsoft has rejected allegations that it knowingly provided technology to facilitate surveillance of civilians.

Following the publication of the investigation, the company commissioned an external legal review. In September 2025, Microsoft President Brad Smith said Microsoft had disabled certain services provided to a unit within Israel's Ministry of Defense after determining they violated the company's policies.

"We do not provide technology to facilitate mass surveillance of civilians," Smith said at the time. Microsoft has also said its internal review found no evidence that Azure services were used to harm civilians.

In his resignation letter, Nour disputed Microsoft's explanation, alleging the company helped move surveillance data from the Netherlands to Israel after the investigation became public. While the original reporting indicated that some data appeared to have been relocated shortly afterward, Microsoft has said the changes were part of enforcing its own terms of service.

Part of a wider employee campaign

Nour's resignation is the latest action by No Azure for Apartheid, a coalition of Microsoft employees and activists campaigning against the company's cloud contracts with the Israeli government and military.

In his farewell message, Nour urged colleagues to join what he called a "Worker Intifada" by refusing to contribute to projects they believe support the conflict. "We are the ones building Microsoft's technology," he wrote. "We have both the power and the responsibility to reclaim our labor." He ended the email with the words: "Free Palestine."